A Little Learning

December 2014

Before I delve into the great wonder that is India, I’d like to take a step back and perhaps explain a little of where my head was taking me at the time.  Up front, I consider myself to be a quiltmaker; pure & simple with no fancy aspirations.  I love what I do and like to explore opportunities, especially learning to help myself to “do this thing” better.  I’m a great exponent of lifelong learning.

Patched Japanese Jacket.  Wendy Lugg Exhibition, 2000

By 2000 I had been quilting for 15 years and had had a wonderful time learning all sorts of techniques, improving my technical skills and trying to add my own twist to things eg unusual colour choices, pieced backings.  Was I bored?  Well, I don’t think so, but what I did need was something to get the blood pumping again.

The 1998 Rapt in Colour exhibition of Choson Dynasty Textiles (Korean Wrapping Cloths) at the Powerhouse Museum was part of my reconditioning experience.  It came like a bolt of lightning!  Quilts CAN have depth, a personality and convey messages.  Similarly, the various exhibitions we attended before going to Japan (2000) had me off and running. My first “textile” travel experience was thereafter destined to become a quest of discovery.  In other words, a real foraging!

I had also by happenstance, come across an interview with Linda McCartney (I think the ABC, played in 2000) about her photography.  I found it incredibly interesting and inspiring.  The gist, in my own words, was that your “medium” is simply an expression of your reaction to things around you.  LMcC believed in modest materials and a minimalist approach eg one lens and black & white prints.  This allowed her to focus on her chosen subject and add a touch of surrealism.  She believed that we need to understand the history of our “medium” and how that influences our own style or way of seeing.  We need to grasp how old masters have used the elements and apply that learning to our own work too.  Copying is certainly out of the question, unless it is traditionally or culturally acceptable.  Finally, LMcC advised how important it was to add something of yourself (capturing your own style) and to just seize the moment.  

Rapt in Colour, Powerhouse, 1998

With these experiences in mind, I had a plan:

1. Take a sketch diary with me to Japan (Well, I did but used my camera instead.  Time to languish was not on our side!)

2. Think about a theme eg blue & white, manhole covers, flowers, seasons etc. Try a fresh approach if it's been done before. (It was so hard to focus in Kyoto...land of the unbelievably beautiful.)

3. Review my current works and make a note of what I’ve learned from that exploration.  (Had I sewn myself into a corner?  Where (or what or even who) was my superhero to help me on my way?)

4. Join a group of like-minded individuals to discuss work.  Learn from others.  (This is why I love attending classes.  Teachers can offer fair criticism.  My friends offer other constructive options to consider.  Fantastic – only a few blocks to unpick!) 

5. Travel and be inspired…could I record the experience?  (I am continually inspired, my photograph collection is approaching digital mega-tons and my mind is spinning with ideas.  From all this though, my love for blogging has bloomed.) 

6. Now of course, all there is to do is focus and get on with it. 

Oh, sure….

A Braidwood Quilt Experience

Inspiration at Every Street Corner

I can’t leave 2000 without posting up a few photos of Braidwood.  Each year, since 1995, the town obligingly hosts a quilt extravaganza – an Airing of the Quilts.  Quilts are only aired on the Saturday but both days are packed with all kinds of interesting things to do and see.  Braidwood is a quaint village full of wonderfully restored cottages – quite historic in its own right (but only old in comparative terms). 

The “airing” is usually held annually in late November and made for a long day’s drive from Sydney.  This year though, quite likely our second visit, we had decided to drive on to Canberra and spend Sunday doing a textile tour of our Capital’s famous quilt shops.  Needless to say, we found lots to look at and quite a few enticing fabrics.  Why didn’t I buy a car with a bigger boot?

These little trips away are the perfect remedy for lack of inspiration, terrific for stash building (you know what I mean!!), and make a nice addition to our group’s annual program of activities.  Thankfully I took my camera, so, we do have a few reminders.

Quilting - Coming of Age

Quilt Show at Darling Harbour: 2000

Having been at quilting for some 15 years (in 2000) and watched our craft grow from strength to strength, I’ve particularly noticed how wonderfully encouraging it is for quilters to meet and show their work.  The huge show at Darling Harbour in Sydney’s CBD announced that quilting had come of age.  In these shows, we have always been treated to a fantastic exhibition of locally produced quilts that range from traditional to art quilts.  There is also a complementary exhibition of note – I still remember the fabulous work of a collection of Japanese quilts I saw one year.  Under this same roof are market stalls with all the latest gear a textile devotee could ever want, a series of workshops to help build skills, a collection of wearable art that made the heart palpitate and all the quilting fans you could ever hope to meet. 

I never fail to walk away overawed, inspired and somewhat bedraggled.  And usually with a few bags full of “interesting things” that I had never planned to buy but just had to have! 

(Photos to come eventually, once scanned...)

Turning 2000

We started Y2K with a bang, and as luck would have it, I started a new job and had gone back to uni.  It was also the year we bought our house on the wonderful Hawkesbury River and I took on a stint of single-parenting teens.  This of course put an end to most of my “spare” time and took a bit of an edge off my patching/quilting progress.  Meanwhile, the pile of UFO's seemed to be multiplying in the deep, dark recesses of my sewing space.  However, I did have a textile trip planned - an escape to Japan no less, so it was certainly exciting times.

A magic ferry ride

I’m in the process of documenting my travel notes (slim pickings here) and photos (all pre-digital) of the Japan trip with Margaret Wright over on Textile Tourist, so I won’t re-invent that wheel here.  Needless to say, I had a great time and came back with just a tad more fabric (2 large boxes - cough! cough!).  This experience only served to re-affirm my belief that we (in Australia) were settling comfortably into “American style” crafting.  Japan’s textile heritage, fabric choices and sincere respect for craftsmanship just blew me away. 

Up in the cooler Japan Alps we found cherry blossom! 

Prior to our trip we also were invited to an exhibition "Common Threads" showcasing the work of Textile Artist Wendy Lugg and Sue Leighton-White’s Japanese textile collection.   

There were two big lessons from this; one that it really is ok to follow textiles in your own way – be it creator (in any style) collector or even admirer!  The second is that it’s ok to take inspiration from history and translate it in any direction you care to drive it.  But always respectfully of course!

Year 2000 was also the start of what I call my Japanese Discovery Period.  Somehow, something cropped up each year (until end 2003) that steered me towards learning about Japanese textiles, techniques and culture.  I was in blue & white heaven; imagine a culture that reveres its textile masters and cultivates its textile heritage!  This passion was of course driven by a wave of enthusiasm for something different – not only by me, but the textile community generally.

Toys & Raffles

Antique Toys: 2000  (Stitched: 1998)

Perhaps not quite so much embroidery on this one.....

Block #2

Antique Toys made another appearance in my life as part of a group raffle (Bondi Evening Group) for our Embroiders Guild.  I so enjoyed making the duck block in 1988, I did it again some 10 years later!  We each made up a pattern on a 12” block, in colours that appealed to us, although with a leaning towards a Christmas theme.  We added lots of embroidery (in keeping with our group raison d’etre), then put it all together.  

Alison coordinated this effort, starting with a proposal/design ideas discussion in 1998, supervising construction in 1999 (that means quite a bit when it comes to coordinating group quilts) and then off to the Guild in 2000.  Some very lucky person has now this lovely quilt.

These blocks were chosen from patterns which can be found in Cindy Taylor Clark’s book “Antique Toys”, 1983.  I rather enjoyed the "repeat" exercise (remarkably) so somewhere in my mind I stored away the idea that ONE DAY I was going to make all of the blocks in this set for me…..as you do!  

Bondi Evening Group Donation Quilt 2000